I knew Mike since 1995 when I was going public exposing corruption inside U.S. Customs and Mike invited me along to attend various functions in Los
Angeles and later when I was available to assist in exposing the CIA. I was at the Crack the CIA Coalition meeting with Ed Asner, Congresswoman Maxine
Waters, and others like former DEA Agent Cele Castillo, Mike Ruppert(LAPD) who asked me to come and now Gary Webb(Dark Alliance)now deceased and Mike
Ruppert(LAPD now deceased) are gone due to self inflicted gunshot wounds. Still hard to take, but WE must carry on with the cause! I have seen CIA
personnel at the world's largest land border at San Ysidro. I can testify that most ALL of what Mike Ruppert had to say was real. Our government was
also involved in killing DEA Agent Kiki Camarena in 1985 and yet our Government LIES to everyone. www.customscorruption.com
I am still asking questions cause I know it is hard to take and fight a corrupt government when there is NO PROTECTION for law enforcement
"Whistle-blowers". I know cause I have been one publicly since October 1, 1995 when My name was published in the San Diego Union Tribune and later
in the Pittsburgh Union Tribune by Chris Ruddy.(Vince Foster case)
What's puzzling is the Gary Webb suicide with 2 gunshots to the head with a revolver.
Mike was very upset over Gary Webb's death as was most of us, but Mike was angry.
I knew about the break ins alleged by Mike to be outsiders and later FBI "infiltrators"(snitches) to his staff.
It was obvious someone didn't like what Mike was doing. He embarrassed the CIA director John Deutsch and Deutsch didn't have all the answers
regrading the "rogue" elements in the CIA selling coc aine thru dealers like Freeway Rick Ross.
My back ground is all law enforcement and there was something serious going on at the Border as well.
Otherwise, why would CIA personnel come to visit and look around at the world's largest land border port in the United States/World at San
Ysidro???
Mike was very smart and sometimes he was a little selfish and wanted to control things, but that is typical of some law enforcement types who need to
maintain "control". Even though we may not have seen "eye to eye", I still did the best I could with meetings with people like black community to
break thru the "wall of silence" so we could help expose the real truth. Generally People don't trust the Cops or Feds and rightfully so. Cause
they are corrupt!! That's why I exposed them !!!
I have done numerous radio shows and television interviews on my own which still supported and contributed to Mike's story as well as former DEA Cele
Castillo's case as well. After all WE are the front line of defense in the "Drug War".
Whistle-blowers don't usually "retire", but get forced out due to Death Threats as I have had as well.
Ending your life in such a way, is not something most people think about unless they are extremely frustrated and feel they have no where else to go
or no one to contact.
I wish I had the chance to talk to Mike Ruppert again, and I reached out to him during the Chris Dorner case, but no response.(Dorner was LAPD and he
was "set up" by a corrupt system) But, that's another case.
I'm still sifting thru the facts and we will know more in a couple of days.
God bless Mike where ever you are! Maybe you can help those of left form the other side?
John Carman www.customscorruption.com
Former U.S. Secret Service
SDPD
U.S. Mint Police
U.S. Customs
U.S. Immigration
Former Private Investigator
National Security Consultant

I used to be a normal "God Bless America", "America is good and right in a world of evil" type. Then along comes Mike Rupert. An LAPD detective
with impeccable credentials and solid proof that the CIA was bringing drugs into the US. I was dumbfounded. I had heard rumors of this sort of thing
but I always just dismissed it as urban legend.

I looked at his evidence, I saw the testimony from disgusted base commanders who were powerless to stop the CIA from running drugs through their
installations. This was no "conspiracy theory," this was fact. I couldn't believe it. I thought, "Oh, boy! Heads are going to roll!" But the
real shocker to me, at the time, was that nothing was ever done about it. No arrests, no trials, no prison sentences, not even an investigation.

Mr. Rupert's explaination was clear and right on the money. Drug kingpins had billions of dollars in cash, US banks were willing to look the other
way to have that cash, and the banks used their influence to have the US Government facilitate the drug trade. In short, the US Government is willing
to sell out the American people for cash.

I bounced around a couple of other conspiracy sites before coming to ATS, but Mike Rupert is the one that put me on the path to discovering how the US
Government really works.

The irony (sigh)... maybe you will fight from the other side better than you ever fought in this lifetime, Ruppert. But then, you probably don't care
anymore...you have jumped ship. Bon Voyage! May your soul find peace and truth.

It is interesting that nobody close to him got him professional help despite his telling them he was contemplating suicide. And those close to him
knew!

What a rare combination of gifts of intelligence, position, character and great persona wasted. And I still can't believe he did it. What an
anti-climax, Ruppert (sorry). I wish you really had fought better. Killing one's self as a "way out" serves no benefit. There have been few
exceptions, I must admit....eg the Tunisian fruit seller torching himself in front of a government building, Aaron Swartz death that highlighted the
screwed up justice system (although I think they could probably have done better alive than dead...but who knows?).

He struck me as a guy who was unable to really step back from life, despite his sweat lodge style experiences, to try to find some of the lower gears
that tend to bring oneself back to the real center of one's existence, as being, rather than doing. He was too engaged with the world's affairs,
unlike most other people.

He was a very important pioneer of alternative media. The "Rubicon" book is a classic of 9/11 related circumstantial and background exposition.

Maybe there were personal issues that made his choice to end his life reasonable to him but I can't help feeling that he was too driven a "Type A"
personality to do the things that might have helped him deal a little better with whatever hand that life had dealt him.

I am so heartbroken Michael is no longer with us. His legacy is now complete, and although he may be gone his message still rings as true as it did
when first I heard it. I consider myself blessed to have known of him, when I found out earlier today scrolling through my facebook feed in class I
gasped and had to hold back tears. As I looked around I realized nobody would even know who he was, and that was a stark realization.

Michael didn't choose the life he lived, many things were out of his control. The lasting impression I will always have is a man of great courage
and integrity. A man who chose to speak out when so many chose silence. My sister and I used to listen to the lifeboat hour and cling to every word.
I just can't believe hes gone....its truly devastating.

The world has lost a warrior for truth, in Mike Ruppert, something rare in this world, so he will be missed.

I offer my condolences to his family and friends.

I want to mention that despite what the media is announcing that this was definitely a suicide, we should nonetheless be vigilant and seek
confirmation there was nothing sinister in Mikes unfortunate death. This man made great enemies, particularly with the CIA, therefore anything is
possible, believe me.

Finally, I want to remind that while Mike Ruppert reported honestly on the myriad negative realities in this world, and indeed, he was correct in many
of his analyses, imo, I want to emphasize that even though these negative forces appear to be getting overwhelming, as Ruppert pointed out often, we
all have to look at the positive side of the spectrum as a balance to this and keep an outlook of strength and hope as much as possible in our hearts.
I believe that eventually goodness, justice, and happiness will prevail in this dark world as long as we keep the struggle for truth foremost in our
hearts and mind so in the end that light will overtake the darkness that people like Mike Ruppert lived and died fighting against.

We have to lift each other up when we get down folks, and be strong, for all we have is each other.

the ending strikes me as particularly interesting. the moment i heard about this tonight i sat through the entire podcast to catch a hint of validity
to it at all. he didn't seem particularly agitated.. upset.. confrontational.. negative.. or.. anything like that, really. in fact he was quite the
opposite. there wasn't a hint of paranoia or uneasiness to him at all. maybe i'm reading too much into it because i really don't want this to be
true - however having listened to the entire thing and his reactions to the matters of their discussion, it does strike me as notable.

i really can't believe he's gone.

does anybody know when this show ended vs. when he was approximately found dead?

I loved your bravery, insight and passion. You may not have always been 100% right, but you were always 100% what this world needed. A damn fine man
with a damn fine heart. You taught me a lot of things I am grateful for learning. Thank you.

Let us hope that the death of this "loudmouth" is a not a precursor to an imminent attack. I have seen this movie before. Its been quiet. Before an
event, those who bullhorn the wrongdoings become absent on the big day.

He helped open my eyes and my mind.
Taught me to question more.... Ever since 9/11.. from just through seeing vids of talks etc on YouTube.
Fir that I am truly grateful ...
It was a gift that changed my life.

In 2009, the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries ordered Ruppert to pay $127,700 to a woman who had sued Ruppert for sexual harassment while he
published and edited From The Wilderness, a website and newsletter

Also this part it seems he had no money for his own place?:

......where he had lived for a few months on a friend’s property.

Which makes me wonder as with Julian assange which also got such sex allegations when he became a problem and in my eyes it seems he was kinda out of
money so IMO money problems got so serious and probably the most important reason, - he took his own life?

And bit OT but $127.700 for a sexual harassment (even when he really did it..) is CRAZY.

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